As reported in our update of March 27th, time limits for various administrative and legal proceedings, including the ones concerning IP rights, expiring from March 13th to April 30th are suspended by May 1st by the Turkish Law No. 2/2633 (the Law) which came into force on March 26th retrospectively.
The Law also authorized the Turkish Supreme Council of Judges and Prosecutors (The Supreme Council) to postpone non-crucial hearings and other proceedings during the suspension.
Yesterday (March 30th) the Supreme Council decided on the following additional measures by noting that there is no such situation as a complete cessation of judicial services during the postponement period and the criminal complaints will keep being accepted in this term as well;
- All hearings, negotiations and viewings before the First Instance Courts, Regional Courts of Justice and Court of Appeals have been postponed to any date later than April 30, 2020, except for the ones concerning arrestee involved cases (only to assess the detention due to legal obligation) and urgent cases or investigations and prosecutions of which time limits are about to expire,
- New criminal court actions may be initiated in after April 30, 2020 except for arrestee involved or urgent cases,
- During the suspension term, the preliminary injunction orders and objections to these orders should be evaluated by respecting the measures to prevent the epidemic,